Stela rubbed her flushed cheek. The moment her foot appeared in the doorway, Maria slapped her. Simon merely lowered his head, unwilling to get involved. Stela's hand gripped his tightly, as if to say she understood.
Maria looked a mess. That much was obvious. And she had to suspect that all of this had something to do with Stela.
"What are you doing here?!"
"Auntie..."
"Go away! My son is in danger because of you."
Stela froze. The tears that had been threatening to fall rebelled again. Stela swallowed and shook her head. No, this wasn't the time to play the victim. Crying wouldn't solve anything. She had to make a move and talk Maria into helping.
"Stela can help, Auntie."
"Help with what? You'll only make things worse!"
Farhan approached Maria and rubbed her back soothingly. Panicking would only make her make the wrong decision. Bari came out too, trying to mediate.
"Do you know who's behind R's kidnapping?" Bari asked.
Stela nodded slowly. Bari let out a relieved breath. He took Stela's hand and led her into the house. Simon followed behind them.
Maria didn't stop them. She no longer had the energy to argue with Bari, who was starting to do whatever he wanted. The woman chose to sit a little farther away. She didn't want to end up slapping Stela a second time.
"Tell me everything you know," Bari urged.
"Rama. He's the one hiding R, Dean, and Loen. Ramon ordered him to do it. He needs the money from the court's decision."
"And Ramon went to prison because of you!"
Maria still hadn't stopped shouting. Farhan pulled her into his arms again, just in case the woman suddenly lunged at Stela.
"Quiet for a second, Maria!" Bari snapped. "Yes, the kidnappers demanded 3M to ransom R."
"3M?" Simon couldn't hide his shock.
Bari nodded. "Yeah. He told Maria to bring that amount of money to the underground of Pav.5 Gedung Bayur."
"The underground of Pav.5 Gedung Bayur?" Stela asked in confusion. "That's not Rama's hideout."
Maria rose from her seat. Stela's words had caught her attention. She eagerly approached Stela, careful not to hurt her.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"According to Kiko—our friend—Rama is hiding R at their hideout. Not in the underground of Pav.5 Gedung Bayur. He's in the underground of Gedung Samin, which has been reduced to ruins. Right at the very bottom."
Bari called all his colleagues and began putting together a plan. Stela and Simon held hands again. Honestly, their hands and feet kept trembling because they were face-to-face with the police.
"Kiko texted. Ramon isn't at his house," Simon whispered.
Stela turned toward him and nodded. She was still confused about how the information about R's location could be so different. What were Ramon and Rama planning?
"Stela!" Farhan called.
"Yes, Uncle?"
"You're coming with us, okay?"
It was midnight. They were wide awake. The perfect combination for making their stomachs growl. Dean picked up the plastic grocery bag lying on the floor and opened it. Three filled rolls and three bottles of water. Well, at least their kidnappers still cared about their hostages' stomachs.
Hearing the plastic rustle, Loen woke up. He groaned when his leg tingled with pins and needles. Slowly, Loen lifted R's head and set it on the floor.
"You can still eat?"
"You can panic, but don't lose your balance."
"What if it's poisoned?"
"They wouldn't go to the trouble of poisoning us and then sealing it up again."
Loen clicked his tongue. He took one of the rolls too. They were starving. Those kidnappers had grabbed them before they could eat dinner. They hadn't even had any snacks at the movie theater. What a complete disaster.
"Do we need to wake R?" Loen asked.
"No need. You're loud enough to wake me up yourselves."
Dean and Loen turned toward R in unison. The boy had already gotten up from his sleep. His body was still weak and unsteady.
"Want to eat, R?" Loen offered.
R nodded and accepted the roll. He let out an annoyed grunt when he discovered there was meat and peanut butter inside. Talk about a high iron content. R kept staring at the roll. Should he eat it or not? He was starving, but this food wasn't good for him.
Hesitantly, R unwrapped the roll and slowly ate it. In his heart, he prayed that even if he ended up dying after this, at least he wouldn't die of hunger. The three of them were busy with their own rolls until the room fell silent.
"Your mom's definitely going to find us, right, R?" Dean asked, breaking the silence.
R didn't answer. He could only agree in his heart. In all his life, he had never asked God for anything. His life had always been too comfortable for him to beg. But this time, he humbled himself as much as possible, hoping God would take pity on him. R wanted to go home.
"God! Dean misses Moli, his mattress, and the new game console from Kea."
"Tch. You only remember God when you need something."
Dean shot Loen a look as if he wanted to devour him. He raised his hands again and resumed praying. R only chuckled softly. At least his two friends had managed to become his cheer squad at a time like this.
"Oh my God, I just realized!" Loen exclaimed. "You can't eat red meat, R."
R smiled. "Eating it once won't kill me."
Maria nervously held the bag she had brought. She gripped the bag filled with fake money tightly. Her legs trembled as she waited for the person who had called her to arrive. She repeatedly closed her eyes, trying to hold back her nerves. Even though she knew officers were guarding her from a distance, she was still afraid. Afraid the kidnappers would notice them and make things even worse.
Two masked men emerged from inside the building. They walked toward Maria, glancing left and right. The building was fairly dark and stuffy. Maria unconsciously took several steps backward.
"Hand over the money!"
Trembling, Maria handed over the bag. "Where's my son?"
The two men exchanged a glance, then ran.
"Hands up!"
About four armed officers pointed their weapons at the two men. The pair immediately froze in place. Damn it! There were only two of them there. Their friends were calmly waiting at the hideout, unaware of what was happening. The police approached and forced them to their knees.
"Where's R?" Maria asked in a trembling voice.
"We only wanted the money. We don't know where your son is!"
Maria worked up the nerve to slap the man. She could do so freely now that their hands had been properly restrained. Tears spilled down her cheeks again.
"You bastards!!"
Crash!!
Two men stood in the doorway. They immediately began clapping and laughing as they looked at R and his two friends. R narrowed his eyes, trying to identify them in the darkness.
"Hello, Big Boss."
"Rama?"
"Wow, you still remember me? That's super!"
"Damn it!"
R tried to get up, but his body swayed unsteadily. Loen quickly caught him before he hit the floor. Dean instinctively stood up, his anger flaring.
"What do you want?!"
"Whoa, chill out, bro! We just want to play for a little while," Ramon said.
The man pulled a pistol from his pocket. He casually aimed it at Dean. The boy immediately dropped back down and edged closer to Loen. Loen wanted to curse his friend's complete cowardice.
"Because of your girlfriend, I'm facing prison time and a hefty fine!"
"And that's got nothing to do with us!" Loen snapped.
Bang!!
Ramon fired a shot into the air. "Your money is our business! And R's life is my business!"
Ramon grabbed R by the collar with ease. Dean and Loen wanted to stop him, but Rama held them off with his pistol too. What a coward.
"I don't need to go through the trouble of killing Stela, because she's my girl. I only need to kill what she cares about."
Hearing Ramon claim Stela as his own set R off, and he punched the man. Ramon didn't hold back and struck him with all his strength. The boy was sent flying, crashing his head against the floor.
"Hands up!!"